@sammydog01 I recently bought a truly terrible clock that makes train sounds on the hour. It works, but I haven’t put batteries in the sound part. I love it so much.
In many ways analogue is better. Find with digital 5 seconds after looking at them I have to relook again. For some reason analogue sticks better in the mind.
@OnionSoup that actually does make sense; visual memory vs computation/mathematical skills.
Often I will “watch” weather on TV being a weather nerd, but unless there is a significant event going on I realize I may not be paying much attention. but the graphic maps showing weather fronts and winds, etc; those I remember.
@brennyn@chienfou@OnionSoup A broken analog clock that does not change its display at all will be right for two infinitesimal periods of time per day. One that’s running will probably never be dead on the correct time. But then, neither will the vast majority of digital clocks. There are reasons. On the other hand, most people don’t need accuracy down to the picosecond. Plus or minus one minute is generally perfectly good. Still wrong, from a strict accuracy standpoint, but since our designation of the exact time is an arbitrary human construct, the importance of being exact about it is also a human construct.
@OnionSoup I have the literal exact opposite problem. I have to stare at analog clock faces for a good few seconds before the time registers in my head, unless the clock is on the hour. (This goes doubly for non-standard faces, hands, etc.) For digital displays, one half-second glance and I immediately know the time is 5:27. But, I collect clocks of all kinds, so I like them all.
I love analog clocks. I’ll never stop having them in my humble abode. I also would like to say that our children in our schools would do well to learn how to tell time this way and also believe they should be taught cursive writing. These two at least should be taught.
@swiftiefangirl well the clock part I agree with you. Many public buildings, train stations, etc still have large analog clocks. Imagine these you folks going to London and seeing Big Ben and asking “what time is it”. They will blame it on something like the time zone change, but bottom-line is they never learned the big-hand/little-hand thing.
@swiftiefangirl The cursive I am mixed on. I remember for being marked down for “penmanship” where if your top and bottom invisible lines of your cursive text did not match expectations, you got a bad grade. This is just stupid anal old-school shit and it was stupid and anal in the 1970s when I was subjected to it. By then I’d already discovered typewriters which were keyboards and realized they also connected to things called computers. So there went the next 50 years of my educational and vocational life, never having to write cursive with perfect penmanship.
EDIT but I do think young people “kids these days!” Should be able to READ cursive and sign a check. Assuming they know what that is.
@swiftiefangirl My high school built in the 1960s had analog clocks in every room, and some master way they could be reset from the school office. So occasionally during a class the clock arms would start spinning unexpectedly. presumably several dozen clocks in the building all did it at the same time. I never figured out how that worked with ancient technology, but it was pretty cool.
@pmarin@swiftiefangirl As late as the early 90s we were being taught to write the same cursive, with grading based on invisible lines and making sure we all made the same identical pointless loops and flowery flourishes instead of on actually being able to write. I can still do it but I never got faster at it than just printing.
Now I train people at work that have never typed on a physical keyboard before because it has never come up for them. Some things will never need to come up again for kids these days, some things are oddly cyclical.
@brennyn@swiftiefangirl My high school counselor in my first year recommended I take a typing class. we had manual typewriters because we wanted to build up finger and hand muscles and muscle memory for mechanical keyboards. turned out typing was one of the most useful skills for my career.
Once during a demo of some high-tech equipment (sold for about $1M; I was the apps engineer running the demo) the customer kept asking to change settings and show how flexible it was. I could do it, but there was no GUI, just rapid typing and interactive recompiles (a cool feature we had). At the end the customer said the system was very imoressive but “he couldn’t type that fast!”
@brennyn@pmarin The reason I would like the schools to keep penmanship or cursive writing in schools is only because everyone has an individual signature just like a fingerprint. I can understand someone not liking that kind of writing however I still think it should be learned simply due to that fact. The analog clock makes a person use their brain function to figure out what time it is other than just looking at the time and not having to figure it out for yourself. I want human beings to continue to use their brain functions instead of entirely depending on computation being done by machines. And t be able to prove who they are through their own unique and individual signature. Just my $0.02.
@swiftiefangirl People just think about things in different ways. To me, reading a digital clock is extra steps because I have to read and then interpret the numbers. An analog clock simply points at what time it is.
Signatures are pretty dead, even when I have to fax a document these days I’m just scribbling on top of a PDF.
@brennyn@swiftiefangirl I agree with that on both main points! For the time reading, yes, the visual recognitions is very important. Including unexpected references. Imagine a fighter pilot hearing “bogey at 6 o’clock” and looks at the time and it’s only 5:30 so says I’ll deal in 30 minutes.
For signing, yes, but how is it YOUR signature if it must mean perfect penmanship with invisible lines and ideal curlies? seriously back in the days when you always signed credit card tabs, rarer now, a lady asked “can you sign it so I can read it?” And I had to answer, somewhat laughingly, “then it wouldn’t be my signature, would it?”
@brennyn@pmarin@swiftiefangirl This, exactly. Cursive is a standard, and your signature is anything but. The whole point of a signature is that it’s unique and can’t be compared or confused with anything else. Cursive, on the other hand, is supposed to be universally read and written. In my opinion, there’s as much a reason to teach people cursive in 2024 as there is to teach them Morse code or complex mental math. (Exceptions made for that last one where a specific occupation makes use of it!)
@brennyn@swiftiefangirl The last time I bought real estate, the whole signature process was typing into an app and having it turn it into a fake bold script. I tried to find a way to physically sign but that never worked, so, pretend fake signature it is. I was about 2500 mi away but there were never any FedEx packs or faxes as in the ol’ days.
@Kidsandliz Oh, I love moon phase watches. I’m also a big fan of automatic watches, especially with an open back. I love to watch the gears move and I like the sweep second hand rather than the clicky quartz ones.
@heartny@Kyeh@PooltoyWolf I have seen some pretty cool clocks with figures coming out on them on bell towers and city towers when I was working Europe.
My mom had a pretty nice cookoo clock from Germany from 1950.
One of my analog clocks is a thermometer.
One of these things. Different brand.
I don’t know why. It was put above the kitchen exit in full view of the kitchen entrance. There’s an analog clock above the kitchen entrance if you’re coming in from the exit.
@pakopako So when you’re walking into the kitchen you can see if it’s mealtime, and as you’re exiting the kitchen you can be reminded to grab your jacket?
(Except that it would be reporting indoor temperature, right? So you shouldn’t need a reminder to grab your jacket.)
@pakopako@xobzoo the “jacket” question is usually answered by looking out the window. But in today’s world some people just leave the blinds closed and look at their phone.
@pakopako@xobzoo I simply live in an area where the temperature can drop 20F over the course of two hours, so no matter what I choose to wear for the day it’s wrong.
@xobzoo best case is you approach the kitchen from the rest of the house and see it’s too-hot o’clock from the doorway, then turn around and head out to Dairy Queen from the front door.
@pakopako@pmarin@werehatrack 80 degrees? In central Florida, that’s 3 AM between April and about July, or broad daylight around late November to early March. The humidity makes it seem a lot higher though, especially if there’s no breeze.
@pooflady I probably have a least 10 analog clocks, some of which are in need of battery replacement. Don’t ask how many analog watches I have. I clearly have an analog problem.
@pooflady I have five analog in my bedroom RIGHT NOW, but only one has batteries. One doesn’t work. One takes c batteries and I put my last ones in a scary door decoration. Two are just lying flat on a shelf for no reason.
@lisaviolet I’ve got a 1980’s Bradley Mickey Mouse alarm clock that has his feet ‘walking’ for the seconds indication. A thrift find that wasn’t running and I made it work! Neat collection. What issues did you have with your Kit-Cat? I’ve never heard of them having problems.
@lisaviolet The only proper collection of Disney watches I have are the McDonald’s promotional ones made for the release of A Bug’s Life in 1998, under the ‘Clip-Tock’ brand. They’re all digital quartz watches, but still cute.
It’s less that I have a lot of analog clocks and more that I only have digital clocks if they’re forced on me by an appliance. All four stand alone clocks I can think of, including the one slowly ticking above my desk at work right now, are analog.
@DLPanther that’s actually something to think about - how many standalone digital read-out clocks do we have? (Even the one in my phone I’ve set to analog, excepting the digits in my status bar)
I’ve got a few novelty digital clocks (that also show stuff like temperature or humidity) but they are severely outnumbered by analog clocks.
I can’t stop buying clocks.
@mossygreen My Mickey Mouse Alexa wall clock is my favorite.
@sammydog01 I recently bought a truly terrible clock that makes train sounds on the hour. It works, but I haven’t put batteries in the sound part. I love it so much.
@mossygreen @sammydog01 I have distinct memories of those! Does yours also have a crossing sign with flashing lights?
@mossygreen @PooltoyWolf @sammydog01 I have one of those bird-song clocks.
@Kyeh @mossygreen @sammydog01 We had a Bird Clock for years! Probably still buried around here somewhere…
I collect clocks, especially vintage and antique ones, so…yes. My house sounds like a clock shop on the hour. Like right now!
In many ways analogue is better. Find with digital 5 seconds after looking at them I have to relook again. For some reason analogue sticks better in the mind.
@OnionSoup that actually does make sense; visual memory vs computation/mathematical skills.
Often I will “watch” weather on TV being a weather nerd, but unless there is a significant event going on I realize I may not be paying much attention. but the graphic maps showing weather fronts and winds, etc; those I remember.
@OnionSoup Whenever I look at a digital clock I find myself visualizing an analog clock face so that I can remember what it said.
@brennyn @OnionSoup
Even a broken (analog) clock is right twice a day
@brennyn @chienfou @OnionSoup A broken analog clock that does not change its display at all will be right for two infinitesimal periods of time per day. One that’s running will probably never be dead on the correct time. But then, neither will the vast majority of digital clocks. There are reasons. On the other hand, most people don’t need accuracy down to the picosecond. Plus or minus one minute is generally perfectly good. Still wrong, from a strict accuracy standpoint, but since our designation of the exact time is an arbitrary human construct, the importance of being exact about it is also a human construct.
@OnionSoup I have the literal exact opposite problem. I have to stare at analog clock faces for a good few seconds before the time registers in my head, unless the clock is on the hour. (This goes doubly for non-standard faces, hands, etc.) For digital displays, one half-second glance and I immediately know the time is 5:27. But, I collect clocks of all kinds, so I like them all.
@chienfou @werehatrack “A broken clock is right twice a day, a clock that’s 14 minutes fast is always wrong.” or something.
I love analog clocks. I’ll never stop having them in my humble abode. I also would like to say that our children in our schools would do well to learn how to tell time this way and also believe they should be taught cursive writing. These two at least should be taught.
@swiftiefangirl well the clock part I agree with you. Many public buildings, train stations, etc still have large analog clocks. Imagine these you folks going to London and seeing Big Ben and asking “what time is it”. They will blame it on something like the time zone change, but bottom-line is they never learned the big-hand/little-hand thing.
@swiftiefangirl The cursive I am mixed on. I remember for being marked down for “penmanship” where if your top and bottom invisible lines of your cursive text did not match expectations, you got a bad grade. This is just stupid anal old-school shit and it was stupid and anal in the 1970s when I was subjected to it. By then I’d already discovered typewriters which were keyboards and realized they also connected to things called computers. So there went the next 50 years of my educational and vocational life, never having to write cursive with perfect penmanship.
EDIT but I do think young people “kids these days!” Should be able to READ cursive and sign a check. Assuming they know what that is.
@swiftiefangirl My high school built in the 1960s had analog clocks in every room, and some master way they could be reset from the school office. So occasionally during a class the clock arms would start spinning unexpectedly. presumably several dozen clocks in the building all did it at the same time. I never figured out how that worked with ancient technology, but it was pretty cool.
@pmarin @swiftiefangirl As late as the early 90s we were being taught to write the same cursive, with grading based on invisible lines and making sure we all made the same identical pointless loops and flowery flourishes instead of on actually being able to write. I can still do it but I never got faster at it than just printing.
Now I train people at work that have never typed on a physical keyboard before because it has never come up for them. Some things will never need to come up again for kids these days, some things are oddly cyclical.
@brennyn @swiftiefangirl My high school counselor in my first year recommended I take a typing class. we had manual typewriters because we wanted to build up finger and hand muscles and muscle memory for mechanical keyboards. turned out typing was one of the most useful skills for my career.
Once during a demo of some high-tech equipment (sold for about $1M; I was the apps engineer running the demo) the customer kept asking to change settings and show how flexible it was. I could do it, but there was no GUI, just rapid typing and interactive recompiles (a cool feature we had). At the end the customer said the system was very imoressive but “he couldn’t type that fast!”
@brennyn @pmarin The reason I would like the schools to keep penmanship or cursive writing in schools is only because everyone has an individual signature just like a fingerprint. I can understand someone not liking that kind of writing however I still think it should be learned simply due to that fact. The analog clock makes a person use their brain function to figure out what time it is other than just looking at the time and not having to figure it out for yourself. I want human beings to continue to use their brain functions instead of entirely depending on computation being done by machines. And t be able to prove who they are through their own unique and individual signature. Just my $0.02.
@swiftiefangirl People just think about things in different ways. To me, reading a digital clock is extra steps because I have to read and then interpret the numbers. An analog clock simply points at what time it is.
Signatures are pretty dead, even when I have to fax a document these days I’m just scribbling on top of a PDF.
@brennyn @swiftiefangirl I agree with that on both main points! For the time reading, yes, the visual recognitions is very important. Including unexpected references. Imagine a fighter pilot hearing “bogey at 6 o’clock” and looks at the time and it’s only 5:30 so says I’ll deal in 30 minutes.
For signing, yes, but how is it YOUR signature if it must mean perfect penmanship with invisible lines and ideal curlies? seriously back in the days when you always signed credit card tabs, rarer now, a lady asked “can you sign it so I can read it?” And I had to answer, somewhat laughingly, “then it wouldn’t be my signature, would it?”
@pmarin
Had that same “I can’t read this” experience with the poll clerk when I went to vote years ago. And made that same response!
@brennyn @pmarin @swiftiefangirl This, exactly. Cursive is a standard, and your signature is anything but. The whole point of a signature is that it’s unique and can’t be compared or confused with anything else. Cursive, on the other hand, is supposed to be universally read and written. In my opinion, there’s as much a reason to teach people cursive in 2024 as there is to teach them Morse code or complex mental math. (Exceptions made for that last one where a specific occupation makes use of it!)
@brennyn @swiftiefangirl The last time I bought real estate, the whole signature process was typing into an app and having it turn it into a fake bold script. I tried to find a way to physically sign but that never worked, so, pretend fake signature it is. I was about 2500 mi away but there were never any FedEx packs or faxes as in the ol’ days.
@pmarin yes exactly. Just the little things that can make a big difference I say!
Next ask how many analog watches we haven these days.
@heartny Yes I have two analog wrist watches - one that accurately shows the phases of the moon and the other one a basic ordinary one.
@heartny I have a sweet spot for mechanical pocket watches, if that counts.
@Kidsandliz Oh, I love moon phase watches. I’m also a big fan of automatic watches, especially with an open back. I love to watch the gears move and I like the sweep second hand rather than the clicky quartz ones.
@heartny @Kidsandliz Mechanical horological movements in general are a thing of beauty.
@heartny @Kidsandliz @PooltoyWolf I agree
https://www.greatvaluevacations.com/travel-inspiration/famous-clocks-of-europe
@heartny @Kyeh @PooltoyWolf I have seen some pretty cool clocks with figures coming out on them on bell towers and city towers when I was working Europe.
My mom had a pretty nice cookoo clock from Germany from 1950.
@heartny @Kidsandliz @Kyeh @PooltoyWolf
The best clocks of Europe:
/youtube kit williams wishing fish clock
/youtube kit williams telford sherwood square frog clock
@heartny @Kidsandliz @Kyeh @mossygreen @PooltoyWolf
The Paolo Uccello Clock at the Duomo in Florence
Do they have to be working to be counted?
@hchavers
One of my analog clocks is a thermometer.
One of these things. Different brand.
I don’t know why. It was put above the kitchen exit in full view of the kitchen entrance. There’s an analog clock above the kitchen entrance if you’re coming in from the exit.
@pakopako So when you’re walking into the kitchen you can see if it’s mealtime, and as you’re exiting the kitchen you can be reminded to grab your jacket?
(Except that it would be reporting indoor temperature, right? So you shouldn’t need a reminder to grab your jacket.)
@pakopako @xobzoo the “jacket” question is usually answered by looking out the window. But in today’s world some people just leave the blinds closed and look at their phone.
@pakopako According to that °F thing on your wall it’s too-hot-o’clock
@pakopako @pmarin By South Florida standards, that’s a slightly chilly winter mid-morning temperature.
@pakopako @xobzoo I simply live in an area where the temperature can drop 20F over the course of two hours, so no matter what I choose to wear for the day it’s wrong.
@xobzoo best case is you approach the kitchen from the rest of the house and see it’s too-hot o’clock from the doorway, then turn around and head out to Dairy Queen from the front door.
@pakopako @pmarin @werehatrack 80 degrees? In central Florida, that’s 3 AM between April and about July, or broad daylight around late November to early March. The humidity makes it seem a lot higher though, especially if there’s no breeze.
@pmarin @PooltoyWolf @werehatrack
Probably have to start hanging up one of these
https://www.chelseaclock.com/products/4-1-2-ship-s-bell-clock-barometer-in-nickel-on-black-double-base?
@pakopako @pmarin @werehatrack My grandmother had one of these, right by the kitchen doorway!
Five analog.
@pooflady I probably have a least 10 analog clocks, some of which are in need of battery replacement. Don’t ask how many analog watches I have. I clearly have an analog problem.
@heartny @pooflady
I don’t see a problem.
@pooflady I have five analog in my bedroom RIGHT NOW, but only one has batteries. One doesn’t work. One takes c batteries and I put my last ones in a scary door decoration. Two are just lying flat on a shelf for no reason.
@mossygreen All five of mine work and are used daily. Oops, six. Every room but the bathroom.
@pooflady Living the dream.
I think I have about 11.9753 analog clocks in my house. Not including old watches.
Some are exactly correct twice a day.
Hmm
Grandfather clock
Incredibles clock
Mickey Mouse Alexa clock
Day of the week clock (it was a joke for my mom because she never knew that day it was, now it’s ours - this isn’t the one we have, but it will give you the idea)
Tigger alarm clock
Cat clock with wagging tail and moving eyes (I gave up on KitKat clocks, too many problems)
Kitchen clock
Catmaid (a cat mermaid) clock
Mickey mouse clock Mine isn’t all scratched up
Funimal foam animal clock
Laundry room clock
Tigger clock (small)
Pendulum cat (got it at Disneyland in the 80s)
I had no idea we had this many analog clocks.
@lisaviolet Oh, those are wonderful!
@lisaviolet I’ve got a 1980’s Bradley Mickey Mouse alarm clock that has his feet ‘walking’ for the seconds indication. A thrift find that wasn’t running and I made it work! Neat collection. What issues did you have with your Kit-Cat? I’ve never heard of them having problems.
@PooltoyWolf The batteries wouldn’t stay seated.
That Mickey clock sounds cool.
@lisaviolet Huh, good to know. Also, if you search for ‘Bradley Walking Mickey Clock’, it should turn up.
@PooltoyWolf How cute is that? Man!
I have a bunch of Disney watches, I collected them for a while. One has a Tigger on a spring and you open it up and he pops up.
One of my favorites is the Pooh mood watch. It came with a mood ring, too.
@lisaviolet The only proper collection of Disney watches I have are the McDonald’s promotional ones made for the release of A Bug’s Life in 1998, under the ‘Clip-Tock’ brand. They’re all digital quartz watches, but still cute.
@PooltoyWolf I was on a tear years ago when we had annual disney passes and got a bunch of fun disney watches. Never wear them. Ever.
I just got of these
ONE of these
@Kyeh That’s handsome!
It’s less that I have a lot of analog clocks and more that I only have digital clocks if they’re forced on me by an appliance. All four stand alone clocks I can think of, including the one slowly ticking above my desk at work right now, are analog.
@DLPanther that’s actually something to think about - how many standalone digital read-out clocks do we have? (Even the one in my phone I’ve set to analog, excepting the digits in my status bar)
I’ve got a few novelty digital clocks (that also show stuff like temperature or humidity) but they are severely outnumbered by analog clocks.
The Jefferson Golden Hour Mystery clock is the coolest analog clock in the history of the world.